Sliding door latch



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Jan. 23, 1962 w. B. JONES SLIDING DOOR LATCH 3 SheetsSheet 1 Filed Oct. 28, 1959 INVENTOR. WILLIAM B. JONES ATTOR NEYS Jan. 23, w w. B. JONES 3, ,7

SLIDING DOOR LATCH Filed Oct. 28. 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEYS Jan. 23, 1962 w. B. JONES 3,917,760

SLIDING DOOR LATCH Filed Oct. 28, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 INVENTOR. WILLIAM B. JONES ATTORNEYS 3,l7,7fi Patented Jan. 23, 1962 ice 3,017,760 LIDING DOOR LATCH William B. Jones, South Euclid, Ohio, assignor to H. K. Porter Company, (Ileveiand, (Bhio, a corporation of Delaware Fiied Oct. 28, 1959, Ser. No. 849,359 9 Ciaims. (CI. 70-97) The present invention relates to a door lock and/or latch adaptable for use from either side of a sliding panel door.

One of the principal objects of the invention is the provision of a reversible lock and/or latch for a sliding door, the lock being adapted to be used on either side of a sliding panel door.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a novel universal door latch and/ or lock capable of holding a sliding door panel open or closed constructed in such a manner as to provide a door opening which is wider than is permitted with the use of known prior art latches and/or locks, especially of the kind where two catches are required, one protruding from either side of the latch.

A still further object is the provision of a door lock, of the kind described in the preceding objects, which will slam shut while in either the open or closed position and then remain locked.

A still further object of the invention is the provision of a novel sliding door lock having a flush and nonprojecting outside door handle and an inside handle for permitting a door to be opened from the inside while locked from the outside. This forms an important safety feature to prevent the locking of personnel inside a compartment with no means of escaping therefrom.

Yet another object of the invention as set forth in the preceding paragraphs is the provision of a relatively compact sliding door lock adapted to fit between the body walls of a door and provide a wider access way when the door is open. The wider access way is due to the fact that the lock does not project beyond its keeper when the door is held in open position and because a shank portion of the inside lock handle serves as a latch. In this invention, only the one latch arm, the handle shank portion, is required whereas in the prior art two latches are required, one on either side of the lock.

The invention further resides in certain novel features of construction, and combinations and arrangements of parts, and further objects and advantages thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which it pertains from the following description of the present preferred embodiment thereof described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which similar reference characters represent corresponding parts throughout the several views and in which:

FIG. 1 is a generally horizontal fragmentary sectional view of a vertical hollow wall with a doorway therein closed by a sliding door panel having a latch'and/or locking device embodying the invention, the door panel being shown in hidden outline in its open position;

FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional inside view of the invention along line 2-2 in FIG. 1, a locking arm of an outside key lock being shown in locking position and a latching arm in latching engagement with a keeper secured to the door jamb;

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view of the invention along line 33 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view along line 44 in FIG. 2 showing detail of a flush outside door handle portion of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional View, similar to FIG. 4, along line 5-5 in FIG. 2 showing further details of the flush outside door handle and inside locking arm in locked position;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to that of FIG. 2 but with the locking arm of the key lock in unlocked position and with the latching arm and bolt slid down in unlatched position away from the keeper;

FIG. 7 is a horizontal sectional view along line 7-7 in FIG. 6 showing the outside door handle in open position; and

FIG. 8 is a fragmentary detailed elevational view of the keeper, schematically illustrating in hidden outline the path of travel of the latching arm portion of the inside escape handle from an unlatched to a latched engagement with its keeper when slamming the sliding door shut.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the details of construction and arrangement of parts shown in the drawings and hereinafter described in detail, but is capable of being otherwise embodied and of being practiced or carried out in variou ways. It is to be further understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and there is no intention to herein limit the invention beyond the requirements of the prior art.

Referring to FIG. 1, the invention is shown embodied in a sliding door latching and/or locking device, indicated generally by the reference numeral 10. The device 10, as embodied, can be used as a latch which may or may not have the key locking features incorporated therein. The term latch is used hereinafter to designate the device 10 although the device 10 preferably includes the key locking features.

The latching device 10, FIG. 1, is flush mounted in a sliding door panel 11 which is slidably mounted between two substantially parallel panels 12, 13 of a vertical hollow wall, indicated generally by the reference numeral 14. The door panel 11 is adapted to close an access doorway or opening 15 formed in the wall 14. FIG. 1 shows the doorway 15 closed by the door 11. When the doorway 15 is open, the door 11 is in the position as shown by the hidden outline in FIG. 1. The usual eatherstripping 1s borders the doorway 15 and biases itself against the outside surface of the door 11 for sealing the clearance between the wall 14 and the door 11.

The door 11 is positively kept in open or closed position by means of identical, but oppositely facing close keeper 17 and open keeper 18, respectively, which catches a latching shank portion 20 of an inside handle 21 which forms a part of the device 10. The close keeper 17 and open keeper 18 are respectively fixed to the left hand door jamb 23 and the right hand door jamb 24, bordering the opening 15, FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 2, the keeper 17, which is identical to the keeper 18, and may be referred to as a striker, is fixed to the door jamb 23 by means of a pair of vertically spaced screws 24. The keeper 17 has an obliquely downwardly extending portion 25 terminating in a vertically downwardly extending hooked portion 26 having a generally horizontal cylindrical or arcuate groove 27 in the inside surface thereof and a downwardly and inwardly tapered or sloped outside portion 23 thereof, FIGS. 2, 6 and '8. A pair of laterally spaced webs 3t} reinforce the keeper 17, FIGS. 1 and 8.

' Although the escape handle 21, which has a ball handle, serves to directly control the latching portion 26, a generally horizontally arranged, channel-shaped outside handle 32 is pivotally mounted inside a pan-shaped element 33 by means of a horizontal pin 34, FIG. 4, for releasing the latch 21 from the outside of the door 11. The pan 33 is fastened to the outside of the door 11 by means of a peripheral fiat flange 35. The lower portion of the flange 35 has a circular opening for accommodating an outside key lock 36 therein. The pan 33 is formed with a substantially flat bottom 37. A pair of horizontal sides 38, a horizontal top 39 and a sloping opposite end 40 interconnect the flange 35 and the bottom 37, FIGS. 3 and 7.

The Outside handle 32 is provided with an outwardly deflected tip portion or tongue 42 for permitting the easy finger-tip grasp thereof, FIG. 3. The handle 32 which is channel-shaped has two parallel flanges 44 connected by a web 45, FIGS. 4 and 5.

The handle 32, as pointed out, is pivotally mounted at an opposite end within the pan 33 by means of the pivot pin 34. The pivot pin 34 extends through the horizontal opposite side flanges 44 of the handle 32 and the juxtaposed sides 38 of the pan 33. The pin 34 has a button head 46 at one end and a cotter pin 47 at the other end thereof, FIGS. 4, 6 and 7.

When the tongue 42 of the handle 32 is pulled outwardly from its position shown in FIG. 3 to its position shown in FIG. 7, a horizontally slidable bolt 50 is moved down, FIGS. 6 and 7, by means of a yoke-shaped part 51 having a pair of dogleg-shaped parallel operating arms 52. Each of the two arms 52 extend through a pair of slots 37a in the bottom 37 of the pan 33.

The web-portion of the part 51 is rigidly fastened to the underside of the tongue 42 adjacent the pin 34, preferably by spot-welding. The extremities of the operating arms 52 are semicricular in configuration and are interposed through the slots 37a into a pair of spaced recesses 53 notched in opposite sides of the bolt 50' near the front end of the latter, FIGS. 6 and 7. The recesses 53 are generally rectangular but with the front sides thereof being sloped at 54, FIGS. 3 and 7, so as to provide adequate clearance for the extremities of the operating arms 52 when the bolt 50 is in a fully extended position, FIGS. 6 and 7.

The bolt 50, which is generally rectangular with the exception of the recesses 53, has a pair of vertically upwardly and downwardly extending latch arm driving elements 55, 56. Only the driving element 55 is effective in the instant embodiment. The important feature is that the driving element 56 is available if the left hand opposite sliding door unit is required, the right hand sliding door unit being illustrated and described.

The bolt 50 is slidably guided between a pair of vertically spaced, horizontally elongated front bolt guides 57, 58, and a pair of vertically spaced horizontally elongated rear bolt guides 60, 61. The bolt guide 60 is shorter than the guides 57, 58 and 61, which are of approximately equal length. Each of the guides 57, 58, 60, 61 are made of metal angle elements having sides perpendicular to each other. The sides flush with the backside of the pan bottom 37 are spotwelded thereto and the other sides serve as supports for the bolt 50. The rear end of the bolt 50 extends beyond the rear guides 60, 61 when in extended position, FIG. 6, and generally even with the rear edges of the rear guides 60, 61 when in the latched or retracted position, FIG. 2.

A rectangular pan-shaped inside cover 63 encloses the bolt 50 and its guides 57, 58, 60, 61. The cover 63 is secured to the backside of the pan bottom 37 by means of a screw fastener 64 at each corner thereof. The screws 64 are each threaded into a mounting stud 65 preferably spotwelded to the backside of the pan bottom 37. The studs 65, FIGS. 4 and 7, are lgenerally tubular with a washer-shaped mounting base at one end thereof. Each corner of the cover 63 is recessed for countersinking the heads of the screws 64 and thereby presenting a relatively flat outer surface. A rectangular opening 63a is formed in the bottom of the cover 63, FIG. 6, for permitting the projection of the rear end of the bolt 50 therethrough in its extended position.

As the bolt 50 is extended, the driving element 55 drives a latch arm portion 68, forming a part of and extending from the shank portion 20 of the escape handle 21, FIGS. 1, 2, 6 and 7, against the biasing action of a coiled latch, handle opening 70. One end of the spring 70 is anchored to a stud 65 in the upper right hand corner of the cover 63, FIGS. 2 and 6, and the other end is anchored in a groove 68a formed in the intermediate portion of the latch arm portion 68.

The arm 68 is generally rectangular in cross-section. Though the latch arm 68 is biased in a clockwise direction, it pivots in a counterclockwise direction, FIGS. 2 and 6, about an anchor pin 71 welded to the case.

The anchored end of the latch arm 68 is recessed at 68b so that the arm 68 and the bolt 50 are substantially coplanar. An arcuate contour 630 is provided so that the arm 68 can be freely pivoted without interference with the bolt 50, FIGS. 2 and 6. Also the driving elements 55, 56 have tapered edges 55a, 56a, respectively, so as to permit the outer extremities of the elements 55, 56 to bear against the arm 68 with a longer moment arm and therefore greater torque for easier operation of the latch unit 10. a

The bolt 50 can be driven or retracted only so far as the lower edge of the latch arm 68 stops against the cutout in the side of inside cover 63.

Preferably, the instant embodiment includes the key lock 36 which can be locked from the outside by a key 73, shown in hidden outline in FIG. 7. By swinging a locking lever 74, FIG. 6, in a counterclockwise direction through an arc of degrees to the locking position shown in FIGS. 2, 3, the unit 16' can be locked from the outside. In this position the bolt 50 is held in latching position and is not permitted to be retracted by pulling out the handle 32 on the outside. However, there is nothing to prevent the knob 21 from being rocked in a counterclockwise direction from its position shown in FIG. 2 to the position shown in FIG. 16, even if the locking lever 74 remains in the locked position of FIG. 2. Accordingly, personnel locked inside a compartment can gain an exit therefrom but no one can unlatch the unit 10 from the outside unless the locking lever 74 is swung in a clockwise direction back to its position shown in FIG. 6.

Another important feature of the invention is the provision of an inside look arm 80, made of sheet metal or other satisfactory means, which arm 8% slides through a small rectangular slot 63!) in the underside of the cover 63 and a similar slot in the horizontal side of the long rear guide 61.

The lock arm 80 is adapted to protrude beneath the latch arm portion 68b and above the short rear guide 60 to prevent the bolt 50 from being extended. When the lock arm 80 is in its locking position the unit 10 cannot be opened from the outside of the door 11. An inside lock arm torsion spring 81 is provided inside the cover 63 for holding the lock arm 89 in place by friction between a tang on the end of one arm 81a acting against the wall surface of an elongated groove 80a. The spring 81 is pivotally mounted over the lower left hand mounting stud, FIGS. 2 and 6, and has an arm 81b reacting against a vertical side wall of the inside cover 63.

An important feature resides in the convertibility of the right hand door latch 10 into a lefthand door latch, FIGS. 1 and 2. The latch unit 10 is latched by sliding the door to the right.

As pointed out, the bolt 50 is provided with the additional driving element 56 which serves no function when the latch unit 10 is used as a right hand latch. However, by rotating the structure in the view or plane of FIG. 2 through the handle 21 will be on the opposite side. Then by moving the handle 21 counterclockwise through 180 to the dotted position shown at 100, FIG. 2, the handle 21 will be in operative position for a left hand latch unit. However, the long guide 61 and the short guide 60 must be interchanged to prevent interference between the arm 68 and the guide. Also, since the long guide 61 must be rotated through 180, a second slot is provided therein for the inside lock arm 80. Accordingly, the right hand unit is converted to a left hand unit. The long guides 57, 58, 61 are made identical for purposes of standardizing the parts since the locking arm guide slots in the long guides 57, 58 serve no purpose except when used as a rear long guide 61.

It is the intention to hereby cover not only the above mentioned preferred construction shown, but all adaptations, modifications, and uses thereof which come Within the practice of those skilled in the art to which the invention relates, and the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a latch mechanism, an inside latch handle having 'a shank portion adapted to engage with and be held by a keeper, frame means, a bolt having a driving element, guide means secured to said frame means, said bolt being slidably supported and guided by said guide means, an arm interconnecting said bolt and said shank portion of said inside latch handle in such a manner that when said bolt is moved a predetermined rectilinear distance said shank portion is released from the keeper, an outside latch handle pivotally connected to said frame means, arm means interconnecting said outside latch handle with said bolt in such a manner that upon pulling said outside latch handle outwardly said bolt is moved the predetermined rectilinear distance to unlatch position.

2. In a latch mechanism as set forth in claim 1, lock means having a rectilinear movable portion adapted to block the movement of said bolt to the unlatch position when said lock means is locked and to permit the movement of said bolt to unlatch position when said lock means is unlocked.

3. In a latch mechanism as set forth in claim 1, wherein said inside latch handle arm is pivotally secured to the frame means and connected to said bolt, and said driving element of said bolt is adapted to engage an intermediate portion of said arm for unlatching said shank portion from the keeper.

4. In a latch mechanism, pan-shaped frame means having a planar periphery adapted to be secured flush with the outer surface of a door, bolt means having driving element means slidably disposed on the backside of said frame means, inside latch handle means pivotally mounted and connected to said bolt means, spring means biasing said inside latch handle means into a latching position, said inside latch handle means having a portion adapted to latchingly engage a keeper secured to the jamb of the door, outside latch handle means pivotally connected Within said pan-shaped frame means and accessible only from the outside of the door and adapted to move said bolt means to unlatch position upon pulling the same outwardly and causing said driving element means to engage said inside latch handle means and moving the same to unlatch position.

5. In 'a latch mechanism, pan-shaped frame means adapted to be secured flush with the outer surface of a door, bolt means having two symmetrically arranged driving element means slidably disposed on the backside of said frame means, one of said driving element means being utilized when the latch mechanism is used as a left hand door latch and the other of said driving element means being used when the latch mechanism is used as a right hand door latch, inside latch handle means pivotally secured to the frame means and connected to said bolt means, spring means biasing said inside latch handle means into a latching position, said inside latch handle means having a portion adapted to latchingly engage a keeper secured to the jamb of the door, and outside latch handle means pivotally connected within said pan-shaped frame means and accessible only from the outside of the door and adapted to move said bolt means to unlatch position upon pulling the same outwardly and causing one of said driving element means to engage said inside latch handle means and move the same to unlatch position.

6. In a latch mechanism as set forth in claim 5, bolt guide means secured to the backside of said pan-shaped frame means, and inside lock means slidably guided in a portion of said guide means for blocking the movement of said bolt means to unlatch position when in locking position.

7. In a latch mechanism as set forth in claim 6, where in said bolt guide means are formed with a plurality of guide openings for said inside lock means, one guide opening being used when the latch mechanism is used as a left hand door latch and another guide opening being used when the latch mechanism is used as a right hand door latch.

8. In a latch mechanism, pan-shaped frame means adapted to be secured flush with the outer surface of a door, bolt means having driving element means slidably disposed on the backside of said frame means, inside latch handle means pivotally secured to the frame means and connected to said bolt means, spring means biasing said inside latch handle means into a latching position, said inside latch handle means having a portion adapted to latchingly engage a keeper secured to the jamb of the door, outside latch handle means pivotally connected within said pan-shaped frame means and accessible only from the outside of the door and adapted to move said bolt means to unlatch position upon pulling the same outwardly and causing said driving element means to engage said inside latch handle means and move the same to unlatch position, and outside door lock means adapted to block the movement of said bolt means to unlatch position when locked.

9. In a latch mechanism, pan-shaped frame means adapted to be secured flush with the outer surface of a door, bolt means having driving element means slidably disposed on the backside of said frame means, inside latch handle means pivotally mounted to the frame means and connected to said bolt means, spring means biasing said inside latch handle means into a latching position, said inside latch handle means having a portion adapted to latchingly engage a keeper secured to the jamb of the door, outside latch handle means pivotally connected within said pan-shaped frame means and accessible only from the outside of the door and adapted to move said bolt means to unlatch position upon pulling the same outwardly and causing said driving element means to engage said inside latch handle means and move the same to unlatch position, and inside door lock means adapted to block the movement of said bolt means to unlatch position when locked, said inside latch handle means remaining free to be moved to unlatched position by operation of the same from the inside.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,519,267 Rubin Dec. 16, 1924 1,608,588 Dundek et a1 Nov. 30, 1926 2,900,204 Pelcin Aug. 18, 1959 

